


An Owl's Eyes

by goodtrash16



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Daemons, F/F, His Dark Materials AU, Same-Sex Daemons, all canon events are the same, elmax - Freeform, i guess? not really. people just have daemons, i have no idea where im gonna go with this but its most certainly elmax, people just have daemons. dont worry about it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2017-11-28
Packaged: 2019-02-07 22:09:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12850527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodtrash16/pseuds/goodtrash16
Summary: “I’m sorry,” Max blurted, feeling like she needed to apologize for some reason.Eleven’s daemon cocked her head at Max, blinking. Eleven herself shifted a bit. Was Max’s apology unnecessary?  Was she interpreting the situation incorrectly? She felt her cheeks flush yet again in embarrassment when the girl suddenly spoke.“It’s alright,” she said softly.Max breathed out in relief, although maybe a bit too soon.





	An Owl's Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> a daemon is a physical manifestation of a person's inner self in the form of an animal.  
> you can read up on them here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A6mon_(His_Dark_Materials)  
> boop boop...if yur checkin this out rn please know i am planning to rewrite this!!!!!! soon!!!!! eventually!! maybe!!!! since i have basically abandoned this. im sorry lmao (4/26/18)

Max sat quietly and observed Eleven gently stroking her owl daemon’s head. Each stroke was slow and followed a silent rhythm. Stroke, pause, stroke, pause. The owl’s eyes were squinted in pleasure, although every other part of her and her human counterpart radiated boredom.

Max was bored too, she had to admit. Her daemon, an orange and white cat, was prowling around the bleachers she and Eleven were seated on. They were waiting for the rest of their party to return from the AV Club room, a venture that was taking much more time than Max had expected. Max sighed loudly, shifting her positioning and sitting in a way that was incredibly incorrect for bleachers. Her butt sat where one’s feet normally went, causing a bit of uncomfortable scrunching for her but it was just comfortable enough to be considered acceptable for the time being.

  
She sat a bit away from Eleven, a row or two above her selected seat on the varnished wood of the bleachers. They were quite a distance from one another, but it’s not like they were talking or anything. In fact, now that Max thought about it, they rarely even talked to one another under normal circumstances. Max could say she didn’t mind, but that would be a lie. She actually really admired Eleven, especially after witnessing her powers in action (well, not really, unless you count overhearing several demo-dogs being tossed around by telekinesis 'witnessing'). She felt like Eleven didn’t like her, even if she didn't seem to have reason to. At least, Max thought she didn't have reason to. She really wanted to ask, but she didn’t want to risk angering or upsetting Eleven. It seemed like everyone else was treading on thin ice around Eleven those days. Max would have to ask about that soon, she only knew so much about what happened before her arrival in Hawkins. She felt like she was missing out on so much, and she always felt so distant from some members of her recently acquired friend group.

Mind drifting from that topic, Max found herself thinking of Will. Eleven reminded her of Will, in a way, although she couldn’t quite put her finger on why. She didn’t know either of them well enough just yet to tell. She could tell that Will and Eleven were close, however. They always seemed to be silently interacting, like they didn't need words to communicate with one another. Their daemons seemed to favor each other. Everyone’s daemons interact while they hang out, that’s just a commonplace, but Eleven and Will’s daemons were almost always together or near one another. Max, at one point, found it odd but came to accept it. She often observed similar behavior in siblings and their daemons, and she got the same vibes from Eleven and Will.

  
Snapping out of her thoughts, Max became suddenly aware of someone or something looking at her. She blinked, noticing that she had been staring at Eleven for a fairly long amount of time. Long enough to be viewed as odd, Max realized. She felt her cheeks redden, for she had also failed to notice that Eleven’s daemon had climbed up onto Eleven's shoulder and fixed her eyes on her. Eleven wasn’t looking at Max, but Max could tell that her attention was on her as well. She slowly pushed herself up from her awkward seating and sat properly once again. Her daemon slinked across the bleacher she was seated on and nudged her way under her arm, seating herself in her human’s lap and returning the owl daemon’s stare with slitted blue eyes.

She shifted uncomfortably under the owl’s eyes. The cat daemon in her lap fluffed up her fur and pressed herself into Max’s stomach, accidentally conveying more discomfort than either of them desired to show. They were never good at hiding stuff, Max thought to herself bitterly. The other girl’s owl daemon didn’t seem like she was going to stop staring anytime soon, an observation that caused Max to fidget even more.

“I’m sorry,” Max blurted, feeling like she needed to apologize for some reason.

Eleven’s daemon cocked her head at Max, blinking. Eleven herself shifted a bit. Was Max’s apology unnecessary? Was she interpreting the situation incorrectly? She felt her cheeks flush yet again in embarrassment when the girl suddenly spoke.

“It’s alright,” she said softly. Max breathed out in relief, although maybe a bit too soon. Eleven suddenly turned around, facing Max. She crossed her legs as her daemon turned around on her shoulder. Now, instead of one piercing set of brown eyes fixed on her, Max had two. “Sorry.”

Max blinked, her daemon rising in her lap. She clambered awkwardly up onto Max’s shoulders, draping herself over them when she finally managed to make her way up. Her sharpened feline eyes yet again fixed themselves on Eleven and her daemon, paws gently kneading at Max’s shoulder. They both were trying not to appear surprised.

“I, um,” Max stammered a bit and paused to clear her throat, for she didn’t want to blow whatever was going on, “sorry about what?”

“Mykah was staring,” Eleven said flatly, her hands resting in her lap. Mykah, her daemon, shifted on her shoulder. Fleet, Max's daemon, stared at the owl's masked face in silence, her tail flicking back and forth lazily.

Max sat and blinked at Eleven for a moment, confused. She suddenly realized something and felt stupid for missing it, it was so painfully obvious. This was Eleven’s way of starting conversation. Max silently scolded herself for being so oblivious, she really needed to improve her people skills. Why now of all times did Eleven decide to talk to her was a mystery but Max wasn’t going to start complaining.

“I was staring too, y’know,” Max admitted as her daemon removed her eyes from the barn owl perched on Eleven's shoulder and contented herself with cleaning a paw, “so it’s cool.”

Eleven nodded. Her eyes flicked to Max’s daemon who was still licking a paw and looked her over. She then looked back to Max, looking her over as well. It was almost as if she was taking Max and Fleet in for the first time, Max thought. She shifted and adjusted herself until she was sitting comfortably. She was trying her best to give off a calmer vibe than before, for she didn’t want Eleven to know how excited she was to finally be talking to her.

“Why so far away?”

**Author's Note:**

> if it isn't clear, Max's daemon is an orange and white cat with blue eyes. i didn't mention her name just yet but her name is Fleet. Eleven's daemon is a barn owl named Mykah and she has brown eyes like Eleven does.
> 
> i have other daemons and such picked out for some other characters, but i'll get around to introducing them to you guys eventually!


End file.
